Marketing Matters More Than Ever

Everyone needs more business today. Cutting costs is not enough to maintain the bottom line. You push your sales force a little harder, discount a little more, but it is not enough. We need to find new clients to replace those who are spending less or who have just gone away. No matter how you slice it, we need more revenue. Now is the time to take a step back and look at your marketing strategies and implementation. Entire books have been written on small business marketing and I only have a few hundred words here; so let’s focus on two things:

1. When someone hears your company name, what comes to mind? What is your message when you communicate? Whatever the answers to these questions used to be, now is the time to take another look and make sure your message still makes sense in this economy. In many cases, that means emphasizing value. For example, if you are in the B2B world, it’s your job to help someone else’s bottom line. Your message needs to be about helping them make more money or spend less. You also could emphasize that you help them save time (but if you are relying on that one, you should be saving them a lot of time).

2. How do people find out about you? A business owner recently said to me, “If you are not marketing now, you are dead.” The good news is that marketing costs are increasingly affordable. The media business is getting killed, so advertising options are really inexpensive. Marketing firms are now similarly affordable. Social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) is being used by savvy business owners who are investing time (as opposed to money) to learn how these platforms can be leveraged to develop business. (Important tip: Don’t start #2 until you have fully thought out #1. If a million people see the wrong message, it won’t help.) The reality is that marketing is on the back burner of most small businesses, but marketing is what puts your company on the front burner of your prospects.